Wet or Dry Plate Holder?

[JamesGilmore]

I came upon this 8x10 plate holder. There are no maker marks on it, but as you can see it has a spring back, along with clips to hold the plate. It appears that one would slide the plate in, and then clip it to keep it from moving or falling forward.
I'm guessing that it was made for dry plates, but would here be any issues using for WP?

97707

[Wayne Aho]

It is a dry plate holder, the plate thickness was not standard back in the day, and the plate could tilt backward without the spring. The clips hold it in. Possible, but messy to use it for wet plate, but would have to be varnished to prevent deterioration. You would have to push the wet plate in from the front, wet side, and hold it while latching it. Might work better if the back could be modified to be opened. Still, its a neat relic.
John coffer has one that uses magnetic tape in the back, for the real tintypes (not aluminum), which holds well, and can be used with any smaller size plate.
Wayne

[JamesGilmore]

Good info - thanks Wayne. Guess I'll stick with my modified WP holder.